Two concurrent global crises—a health crisis and an economic crisis—are engulfing the world. The necessary public health response to the COVID-19 pandemic is setting in motion a globally synchronized economic recession—leaving no obvious robust engine of global growth. The humanitarian dimension of these two linked events is taking the majority of mankind into uncharted waters. The compound crisis threatens to overwhelm health care systems and government policies. The policy response will determine the human toll of the virus; the length and severity of the downturn; and economic, social and environmental progress towards (or regression away from) attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), placing a large responsibility on policymakers.